Biography
Sergi Casanelles, Ph.D. is the Program Manager and Faculty of the Screen Scoring Program at NYU Steinhardt, a leading program in the field with over 100 students. He leads and coordinates a team of more than 25 faculty members.
His research focuses on how technology is utilized in music for the screen, and how using technology influences the aesthetics of screen music. He is especially interested in how technology serves to expand the timbral possibilities of music and new methodologies for analyzing music from a timbral perspective. In his dissertation, he defined the Hyperorchestra as a virtual ensemble that transcends reality through technology.
He has written concert music for piano, chamber ensembles, orchestra, electronics, as well as music for the screen. He has also worked as an orchestrator. He won the COM Radio Tutto Award for his solo piano piece Postlude to Chopin’s F minor Fantasy, and the III Orchestral Composition Competition Evaristo Fernández Blanco for his work From Hell: 4 scenes of Dante’s Divine Comedy. This premiere of this piece was awarded by the Spanish PRO SGAE as one of the top premieres of the year. During his time as an NYU student, his orchestral work Masques was part of the NYU Orchestra Composer residency program.
He holds a Ph.D. and an MM in Screen Scoring / Composition from NYU, a BS in Computer Science (UPC, Barcelona), and a BM in Composition (ESMuC, Barcelona) and Piano Performance (Liceu, Barcelona).
Some of his works have been published by Brotons & Mercadal.
Selected Press Reviews
“The work surprises and satisfies for its construction, its powerful instrumentation without losing the capacity to evoke and to write beautiful melodies […] with very clear lines and melodies which attract the audience from the very first moment. […] In the second scene, called “Paolo and Francesca”, a beautiful melody is converted into an awesome melodic theme, which could be a part of the best film soundtrack with all the features to succeed in this field” Roberto San Juan (about From Hell)
“[..] the very young composer from Barcelona Sergi Casanelles impressed the Leon audience (it was completely quiet during the performance) with his work, completely deserved winner of the III Composition Competition Evaristo Fdez. Blanco” Julio M. Alejandre (about From Hell)
“Casanelles starts from references of Rachmaninov’s music and includes the big music in the style of the epic moments of the film music” Jordi Maluquer [2008] (about Three sketches in the form of Scherzo)
“From his friend Casanelles, a young composer in his 20’s, he performed in the first place his Postlude to Chopin’s “Fantasy”. This is a tonal work, very well composed in a post-romantic character, very good labor from a young composer.” Juan Krakenberger (about Postlude to Chopin’s f minor “Fantasy”)
